Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: Siamak Namazi, an Iranian descent US citizen detained in Iran, has announced a seven-day hunger strike from Monday.
Namazi, an Iranian American businessman, has started the strike to implore US President Joe Biden to take up his case expeditiously. In an open letter to Biden, Namazi stated, “All I want, sir, is one minute of your days for the next seven days spent thinking about the struggles of the United States captives in Iran. Only the American president has the authority to bring us home.”
Namazi was detained in October 2015 on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, an allegation he vigorously denies.
Baquer Namazi, his father, a former UNICEF official, was also detained as he flew into Iran to secure his release. Later, Baquer Namazi was allowed to leave Iran on medical grounds under a prisoner swap deal, but Siamak Namazi was left out and endured prolonged solitary confinement in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, which saw a deadly fire earlier.
US-Irani national’s hunger strike
Siamak Namazi started the hunger strike on the anniversary of the release of five other Americans in 2016 after the United States and Iran implemented a nuclear deal brokered by five major world powers and former US president Barack Obama.
Before former US president Donald Trump retracted from the nuclear agreement, Iran released two more Americans under the prisoner swap deal.
“By saying things, my captors enjoy taunting me about that fact like, ‘How America, your beloved country, can be so heartless? Not one but two United States presidents left you behind but freed others,’ he wrote in his letter.
The Biden administration has made it clear that Iran must free the American prisoners to move forward with the nuclear agreement.
But after lengthy discussions and as attention turns to Iran’s bloody crackdown on large rallies sparked by the murder of a woman captured by the renowned morality police, Biden has recognized that the deal was essentially dead.
“The entire world is now watching how the Biden administration can react to those who dare to demand their fundamental rights,” Namazi said. The Iranian government typically rejects claims of dual nationality, and on Saturday, it executed dual British-Irani national Alireza Akbari, accusing him of spying for the UK.
